Vaxcyte’s (PCVX) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $95.00 target price on the stock. Needham & Company LLC’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 42.24% from the stock’s current price.

Separately, Cantor Fitzgerald reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of Vaxcyte in a research report on Friday, January 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $78.50.

Vaxcyte Stock Down 1.1 %

PCVX opened at $66.79 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $7.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -16.17 and a beta of 0.94. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $66.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $62.42. Vaxcyte has a 52-week low of $44.20 and a 52-week high of $82.04.

Vaxcyte (NASDAQ:PCVX) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The company reported ($1.82) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.89) by ($0.93). During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.73) EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Vaxcyte will post -4.18 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Vaxcyte

In other news, CEO Grant Pickering sold 15,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.93, for a total transaction of $1,003,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 477,847 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,982,299.71. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Vaxcyte news, SVP Elvia Cowan sold 11,678 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.08, for a total value of $865,106.24. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 12,480 shares in the company, valued at approximately $924,518.40. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Grant Pickering sold 15,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.93, for a total transaction of $1,003,950.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 477,847 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,982,299.71. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 63,294 shares of company stock worth $4,254,105. Insiders own 3.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Vaxcyte

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Vaxcyte by 155.3% during the 4th quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 411 shares of the company’s stock worth $26,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Vaxcyte during the first quarter worth about $37,000. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise increased its position in shares of Vaxcyte by 96.7% during the first quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise now owns 1,184 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC purchased a new stake in shares of Vaxcyte in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $221,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.78% of the company’s stock.

About Vaxcyte

Vaxcyte, Inc, a clinical-stage biotechnology vaccine company, develops novel protein vaccines to prevent or treat bacterial infectious diseases. Its lead vaccine candidate is VAX-24, a 24-valent investigational pneumococcal conjugate vaccine for the prevention of invasive pneumococcal disease. The company also develops VAX-31 to protect against emerging strains and to help address antibiotic resistance; VAX-A1, a novel conjugate vaccine candidate to prevent disease caused by Group A Streptococcus; VAX-PG, a novel protein vaccine candidate targeting keystone pathogen responsible for periodontitis; and VAX-GI to prevent Shigella, a bacterial illness.